


Gavin Just Can't Let Connor be Happy

by moretrash



Series: Teaching Your Local Deviant Android About Feelings [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Bullying, But He's Bad at Talking About His Feelings, Connor Deserves Happiness, Connor's coin, Everyone just wants Connor to be happy and then there's Gavin, Father-Son Relationship, Good Parent Hank Anderson, In a way, Lollipops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15411270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moretrash/pseuds/moretrash
Summary: Connor is a pretty simple person, and needs few things to keep him happy on a lot of days.Gavin tries to take away these simple things, and Hank is a good dad.





	Gavin Just Can't Let Connor be Happy

There were a few things that Hank had learned about Connor in the time the android had lived with him.

First of all, Connor really liked his quarter. Whenever he used a quarter, it had to be the one he had arrived at the Detroit Police Department with. He kept it safe and polished, and Hank swore Connor had a heart attack every time he briefly lost the precious coin. 

“Why do you do those coin tricks?” Hank had asked one day. Connor caught the coin in his hand and looked over.

“Am I annoying you? I’m sorry, I’ll stop.” Connor said, misinterpreting the question. Hank sighed softly when he saw Connor move to put the coin back in it’s special spot.

“That’s not what I meant, Connor. I was just asking why you did them.” Hank explained. “You can keep playing with your coin if you want to.” Connor grabbed his coin again, rolling it across his fingers and balancing it on his knuckles.

“Well, it was programmed into me as a series of calibration exercises. But, now that I’m deviant, I find it to be a rather entertaining passtime.” Connor said. Hank nodded and turned back to the TV, tuning out the sound of the coin as it flicked between Connor’s hands.

Second of all, Connor had an oral fixation. Hank had thought it didn’t go past the bizarre fact that Connor licked evidence to test it, but it wasn’t. When Connor started living with Hank, the lieutenant seemed to always catch the android either testing something on his tongue, chewing on a pen as he wrote in his journal, or gnawing on his end of his fingers. 

Hank had, admittedly, gotten tired of trying to find a pen and discovering that nearly every single one had teeth marks on the end, or finding Connor with his fingers in his mouth, testing something that was surely disgusting. But, he quickly found a solution.

Lollipops.

It flawlessly solved the problem, in Connor’s opinion. It wasn’t hard to stock up on several bulk bags of lollipops, so they never ran the risk of running out. It gave Connor the oral stimulation that he wanted, and prevented the destruction of every pen in the house. 

At first, he’d been hesitant about the solution due to the general health concerns surrounding having several lollipops in a day, multiple days in a row. However, he had given in when Hank pointed out that it wasn’t like he would feel the health effects of it as, unlike a human, he didn’t have the same health concerns like diabetes or cholesterol. 

“Can you even eat these?” Hank had asked. Connor shrugged and nodded.

“Yes. Androids can ingest small amounts of food, but it is unadvised that we eat more than one to three bites of food per every three hours.” Connor said. 

“Since when have androids been able to eat?” Hank had asked incredulously.

“Well, the function was first introduced with the release of the PL600 model. Since they were made primarily to be a caregiver to children, the engineers at Cyberlife took into account the possibility of the android cooking with a child, and the child wanting the android to try the food they made. After the success of the function, it was implemented into every model after the PL600.” Connor explained. “Of course, we can’t taste the food, but we do have the ability to ingest small amounts at a time.” 

There were always some lollipops readily available to the android. There was a small bowl of them on the coffee table in the living room, or in Hank’s car. Connor always had a handful in his pocket when he took Sumo on a walk or went shopping with Hank.

So, when he had returned to the Detroit Police as an official detective, these little additions were things that the other officers in the precinct got used to rather quickly. It was a common sight to see Connor working intently, a lollipop stick sticking out of his mouth. 

When Connor had become an official detective, it had taken a while to convince him to take the breaks and lunch hour that every other officer took. Connor hadn’t seen the point; if he didn’t need to take them, why should he? 

When he finally had been convinced to take his breaks, he spent them in the break room, sitting quietly and doing his coin tricks to entertain himself. The other officers that steadily gotten used to tuning out the metallic tinging on Connor’s quarter, and it wasn’t bothersome anymore. Plus, it wasn’t like it wasn’t productive, it was a calibration exercise. Sometimes, outside of Connor’s breaks, the people sitting around Connor would start to hear the quarter and tune it out as soon as they realized that the sound was just Connor playing with his quarter at his desk. 

-

It was a normal day, just about a week and a half after Connor had officially returned. Hank had gone to get lunch at the Chicken Feed, but Connor had chosen to stay and do his coin tricks in the break room, which usually attracted a small crowd of people getting lunch and had become entertained by the android’s tricks. 

Connor made conversation until the crowd slowly fizzled out as people microwaved their lunches and shuffled back to their desks to eat. 

“Can you stop that shit? It’s fucking annoying.” Connor suddenly heard. When he glanced up, he could see Gavin standing by the microwave, the soft whirr sound signalling that the man was making his lunch. 

 

“Good afternoon, detective Reed.” Connor greeted. “Am I bothering you with my coin tricks?” He asked. 

“I just said it was annoying, what the hell do you think?” Gavin asked. Connor nodded and went to put his coin away, but he paused in shock when Gavin snatch the coin before he had a chance to stop, much in the way Hank had a while before. He looked up and frowned, humming.

“Can I please have my coin back?” He asked politely. Gavin glanced at the quarter before shrugging and pocketing it.

“No, I don’t think you can.” He said, walking to his desk with his lunch. Connor stared in shock, his LED a bright yellow. He got up and went back to his desk, sitting down and started on his work yet again.

-

When Hank came back from his lunch break, he was surprised to see Connor’s LED was the color of mustard. He wasn’t too concerned; usually, when Connor’s LED was that color when they were just working at their desks, the android had just been spooked by something, and it would go back to the regular blue color soon enough.

However, the more time that went on without Connor’s LED going to blue, the more worried Hank got. He frowned when he noticed that Connor was tapping his desk and his feet as his got more and more restless. Usually, when he started to get restless, Connor would just start to play with his coin.

“Kid, where’s your quarter?” Hank asked gently. Connor looked up and frowned, looking away and mumbling something unintelligible.

“Kid, you gotta speak up, I don’t have that android super-hearing.” Hank said. 

“Detective Reed has my coin.” Connor whispered. Hank blinked in surprise and scowled, knowing that nothing good went down that led to Gavin being in possession of Connor’s precious coin. 

“Why the fuck does that asshole have your quarter?” Hank asked. Connor frowned and shrugged, looking down at his desk.

“He took it. I asked for it back, but he refused.” Connor explained. Hank frowned deeper and moved so that his chair was next to Connor’s.

“And why didn’t you just take it back? You could fucking demolish him in a fight, I’d bet actual money on that fact.” Hank said. Connor laughed at the small attempt to lighten his mood.

“...He threatened to kill me.” Connor whispered. Hank felt himself go cold as he looked at Connor, his hand starting to shake.

“When in the fuck did he threaten to kill you?” Hank asked, not trying to hide the intent to murder in his voice. Connor frowned and leaned his head on Hank’s shoulder. 

“When I went to get evidence when we were taken off of the deviant case. He saw me in the archive room and said, and I quote, that I should watch my back because ‘androids had a tendency to get themselves set on fire lately.’” Connor explained, his LED flashing red. “It’s illogical to be scared of him, though, he can’t really do that.” Hank frowned and pulled Connor into a hug, now understanding why Connor was so tense around Gavin. Connor was scared of him, and with good reason, and Hank hated that he hadn’t known for so long. 

“Oh, Connor, that fucking sucks. But, you have every right to be scared of him if he said something like that to you, don’t try and say it’s illogical. Hell, you could be scared of birds and I’d tell you the same thing. I’ll get your quarter back, okay?” Hank said gently. Connor smiled and nodded, looking up at Hank with such trust that Hank was hit with the realization that he was suddenly a father again, whether he had planned on it or not. When he thought about it, Connor really was just a five-year-old at heart; still figuring himself out, the world out, he was scared of things and he was shy and curious. Connor needed someone to help him figure things out, and Hank found that he was more than happy to take up that position, regardless of the initial overwhelming fear that a thought like that brought. 

Hank patted Connor’s back and got up, going off to Gavin’s desk. 

“Hey, asshole, give Connor’s coin back.” Hank said. Gavin looked up and narrowed his eyes.

“Why should I?” Gavin asked. Hank grinned and leaned a hand on Gavin’s desk as though they were having a friendly chat.

“Because if you don’t, I will go to Fowler about the fact that you not only stole from another detective, but threatened to kill him as well.” Hank said. Gavin stared in shock before frowning.

“I never threatened that plastic prick!” He protested. Hank grinned dangerously and tilted his head politely.

“Oh, really? Is telling him that he should watch himself because he’s going to be set on fire not a threat?” Hank asked. Gavin rolled his eyes and handing over the quarter. 

“Thank you.” Hank said politely, going back to Connor’s desk and setting the quarter down on the desk. Connor perked up and smiled brightly, his LED fading back to blue. 

“Thank you!” He said brightly, starting to roll the coin over his fingers as he worked on going through case reports. Hank smiled and patted Connor’s shoulder fondly as he sat down at his own desk.

-

Lollipops weren’t just good for Connor’s oral fixation. They were also good for keeping Connor’s stress levels from rising to dangerous points.

Since becoming a deviant, Connor had a more difficult time with cases. Some things were too gruesome for him, or it was just so unimaginable that Connor was overwhelmed. Hank hoped he would never see the day that Connor’s stress levels went to 100% and he attempted to self-destruct. 

To try and keep this possibility from becoming reality, Hank started to keep a few lollipops in his pocket when they went to crime scenes. Whenever he noticed Connor getting distressed, he would hand Connor a lollipop and challenge him to list off the ingredients as he sucked on it. Hank never paid attention to what ingredients Connor listed off; the android could say that the lollipop’s ingredients were rainbows and sunshine and Hank would just smile and tell him ‘good job’.

So far, it had worked pretty well to distract Connor enough to lower his stress levels. 

That was, until Gavin caught them doing the exercise to calm Connor down. 

Hank wasn’t a fan of having to work with Gavin at a crime scene. He wasn’t a fan of being in the general vicinity of Gavin, for that matter. 

So, when Gavin walked in to find Connor listing off the ingredients of a green apple flavored lollipop while Hank listened patiently, he scoffed, distracting Connor’s train of thought.

“Really? Now’s not a time for a fucking candy break, tin can! Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.” Gavin said. Hank frowned and rubbed Connor’s back, shaking his head.

“Don’t listen to that asshole, Connor. Keep it up with those ingredients, you’re doing a hell of a good job with that.” Hank said. Connor smiled and picked up where he left off, the tension in his shoulders slowly dissipating.

“Really? There’s a fucking triple homicide downstairs and you’re in here playing name the ingredient?” Gavin said. He walked closer and grabbed the stick that was protruding from Connor’s mouth, yanking. Though the lollipop came out of his mouth, it knocked against Connor’s teeth.

“Ow!” Connor cried out when the hard candy knocked against his teeth. Though he couldn’t feel pain, the sensation was closest to pain from what he knew about pain. Hank was instantly by Connor’s side, going into what some officers at the precinct referred to as ‘worried dad mode’. Those that had been around when Cole was alive had remembered Hank’s worried dad mode well from the times they had seen Hank interact with his son, but they hadn’t seen it so long that it was honestly a shock when they saw it being used with Connor for the first time. But, they had realized that Connor was Hank’s son in all but name and blood, even if the pair hadn’t realized it yet.

“Fuck, Connor, everything’s okay. The feel will go away soon, I promise.” Hank said softly. Connor nodded and looked at Hank, his eyes wide and confused as he tried to process what had just happened.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, you asshole? There’s nothing wrong with him having that!” Hank said. Gavin narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Connor.

“He can’t even taste it, so try again.” He said. Hank pushed Connor behind him to protect him if Gavin tried to throw a punch, sighing in frustration. 

“It calms him down, you prick.” Hank said. He turned to Connor and urged him out of the room to wrap up the investigation as soon as possible.

-

Later that day, as Connor and Hank lounged on the couch, Connor shoved one of the lollipops from the bowl on the coffee table, a rootbeer flavored one, and shoved it into his mouth. He had been in a sour mood since the incident earlier in the day.

“Kid, you doing okay?” Hank asked. Connor nodded and leaned against Hank’s side, tucking his knees up to his chest as he made himself comfortable. Hank chuckled lightly and wrapped an arm around Connor.

“So you just wanted a hug this entire time?” He asked. Connor nodded silently and wrapped himself around a blanket, smiling as Sumo barked and jumped up onto the couch to get in on the spontaneous cuddle session. 

“Kid, just use your words next time you want a hug. Hell, you don’t even have to do that. Just hug me if you want a hug from now on.” Hank said. Connor nodded and wrapped his arms around Hank with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is legendary-marmorans


End file.
